ABOUT CLICKED

The modern news consumer ignores Weblogs and online citizen journalism at his own peril. But not everyone has the time to keep track of what's going on the Web. With this blog we hope to track the highlights of what's being discussed online so when news breaks from the Web, we're ready.

Will Femia is a Weblog enthusiast who, through good fortune and dumb luck, was introduced to the form as his position as chat producer for MSNBC.com careered into obsolescence. On any given day, Will can be found having already spent an unhealthy amount of time squinting at a computer screen.

Send a message to Will at spotter@msnbc.com



Thursday

Posted: Thursday, April 23, 2009 1:33 PM by Will Femia

Amusement of the day: I'm very aware of the risk of appearing smug or arrogant by mocking someone else, particularly when they're trying to make a political point that is tantamount to a tenet of faith, but Rep. Joe Barton thinking this exchange demonstrates him stumping Secretary Chu is just so ridiculous I took some pleasure in seeing the Twitter community bark at him.

This is probably going to be in all of today's news in one form or other but it's worth reading the actual piece. It's a powerful essay from the guy in charge of interrogating Abu Zubaydah before we decided to torture him.

I've been wanting to set news soundbites to a techno beat for the longest time. The obstacle has always been collecting the soundbites. These people do a really fun job with the addition of an auto-tuner. Here's the first one, a little catchier.

To my son who can't yet ride a bike but who will, if he's at all like his father, one day want one of these bikes: No.

Why there will never be a cure for cancer.

Whoa! Amazing! It's like a still-photo movie. Looks like you can choose your size here and pretend you're watching it on a fancy TV.

The panorama of the Detroit block, it was from this blog.

Woman sends stripper impersonator to highschool reunion as a prank- That is, the stripper was impersonating her at the reunion so she didn't have to go.

MAIN PAGE

Email this EMAIL THIS

Comments

First, a big "Welcome Back!", Will!  We've been here...begging for input from Clicked...your traffic will pick right back up!

Second...OMG...thank you so much for providing a lunchtime laugh!  Rep. Barton really needs to take a step back and get a little basic science education!

Darren Franzen, Itasca, IL (Sent Thursday, April 23, 2009 1:53 PM)

Glad you're back on Clicked, Will! We've been waiting!

Erin, Biloxi, MS (Sent Thursday, April 23, 2009 1:54 PM)

The Sweet Juniper blog (featuring the Detroit photo) is fascinating. I meant to just take a quick peek and ended up reading for the past half hour or more. I've got it bookmarked so I can return.

I live near Detroit, so that's part of the interest for me. But there's something appealing, too, about exploring old, abandoned homes. Seeing what was left behind, wondering about the people who lived there.

Liz, Somewhere North of Detroit (Sent Thursday, April 23, 2009 9:05 PM)

Adding you back to my bookmarks, Will.

jeff, ct (Sent Thursday, April 23, 2009 10:14 PM)

I have a feeling that a whole lot of people (I.E. everyone who has commented on your blog in the last 3 updates) are going to be disappointed when you disappear again Will. Oh well.

Great update. I really liked the comic about cancer. Too many people are unaware that cancer is not a single problem with one cure.

Also really liked the "still-photo movie". Well, I liked the concept of the movie, but the way the police officers were spread out throughout the entire building was a little unrealistic. Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but little things like that (and the cop being kicked through the glass wall) bother me.

I would have liked a little more context on the Rep Barton / Secretary Chu video. It really looks like it was set up to make Rep. Barton look stupid. I'm not saying he isn't, I'm just saying that it looks like the video starts there simply to insure that the audience will be against him. Perhaps the conversation that directly leads to that question made the question....less ridiculous.
I'm always a little skeptical when there's no context given to that sort of thing.


Anywho, nice update. And I really hope you didn't approve all those "Welcome Back!!!!!!" comments just so you can feel better about the blog before you neglect it again for another month or two.
(Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but you've teased your following with a short lived comeback a couple times already)

Michael "Tough love is better than no love at all" [Last Name Deleted] (Sent Friday, April 24, 2009 9:16 AM)

Glad to hear from you again, Will! I missed you over the last several weeks.  

CaryE, Pac NW (Sent Friday, April 24, 2009 1:43 PM)

Not a fan of Joe Barton, I mean WTF business does congress have sticking it's nose into college sports?  Granted not important but is something of a litmus test on a legislator's intelligence.  OTOH, I don't see the point of the mockery of his questions, either to Chu or Gore.  Both Barton and Gore/Chu address different subjects in the context of the same question.  When Barton asked how the oil got under TX/AK his point had more to do with the earth having at one time been a lot warmer in the past than with plate tectonics moving it there.  He and Gore both talked past each other (only got half way through before moving on, as neither one was interested in what the other had to say).  The vehemence of the Twitter mockery (and if there is anything mock-worthy, it's Twits) looks a bit over the top.

Just saying, I was expecting something far more cringe-worthy than what I got.  

KRW (Sent Friday, April 24, 2009 9:24 PM)

Welcome back! you have been missed....

Tstright (Sent Saturday, April 25, 2009 8:23 AM)

The Barton clip and corresponding Tweet definitely doesn't tell the whole story - or really any story. Of course, both the clip and the tweet are Barton's so it compounds his foot-shooting. In fact, that's what I think is the real mockable part of the whole thing. He could have said something about Secretary Chu agreeing with his point that cold areas of the earth were once much warmer. He could have gone farther than that and said something like "EVEN Secretary Chu agrees..." Instead he tried to puff himself up and failed. What I thought was funny was not so much individual comments but the avalanche that fell on him when he was so proud of himself.

Will Femia (Sent Monday, April 27, 2009 5:39 PM)

Michael, I feel like my schedule has stabilized so it's less of a guessing game when I'll have time to post. I'll at least try to be more transparent about where my time is going.

Will Femia (Sent Monday, April 27, 2009 5:44 PM)



SEND A COMMENT

PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

Your name, city and state (John Doe, Seattle, Wash.): 

 Your e-mail address (jdoe@msnbc.com):

Your website (it's okay if you don't have one):

Remember me? (We'll keep it private)

TRACKBACKS

Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do not appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://clicked.msnbc.msn.com/trackback.aspx?PostID=1904965